Upcoming
HKMSS 12th Annual Scientific Meeting (8th Hong Kong Neurological Congress)
29 Oct 2023
09:15 - 16:35
Grand Ballroom, 3/F, JW Marriott
Speaker(s)
Prof. Darin Okuda
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
USA
Prof. Amit Bar-Or
University of Pennsylvania
USA
The HKMSS held its 12th Annual Scientific Meeting as part of the 8th Hong Kong Neurological Congress, which was co-organized with the Hong Kong Neurological Society. The event took place at the JW Marriott Hong Kong, and the MS Symposiums were held on 29 October.
Radiologically Isolated Syndrome (RIS)
In the first MS symposium, which was chaired by Dr. KL Shiu and Dr. Kelvin Tsoi, Prof. Darin Okuda from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center joined us virtually and gave us an wonderful overview of radiologically isolated syndromes. He highlighted how novel techniques help us better differentitate MS lesions from other causes of white matter lesions. He then reviewed the two RIS treatment trials, and shared his valuable opinion on the pros and cons of approaching RIS with different strategies.
Using High Efficacy Treatment (HET) early in PwMS
In the second MS symposium, which was chaired by Dr. WK Cheng and Dr. Stephen Cheng, we were delighted to have the physical presence of Prof. Bar-Or from the University of Pennsylvania, who was the first overseas MS speaker to visit Hong Kong since the pandemic. Prof. Bar-Or first gave us a concise but illustrative review of the latest understandings of neuro-immunity, how the different immune cells interact, communicate, and bring about the pathology of both relapses and progression in MS. He then focused on anti-CD20 therapies, a form of HET, and reviewed their efficacy and safety profiles.
Two nights before, on the evening of 27 October, Prof. Bar-Or had a roundtable meeting with our council and local neurologists, and shared with us his personal extensive experience in treating MS with anti-CD20 therapies. We have certainly learnt a lot from his insights!
We would like to thank both speakers for their wonderful talks. We are also glad to announce that Prof. Bar-Or has kindly accepted our invitation to be our society’s Honorary Fellow!
Complement Therapeutics in gMG and NMOSD
During the ASM, Dr. Winnie Wong and Dr. WT Wong of our council also assisted in chairing a symposium on complement therapeutics in generalized myasthenia gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. The talks were given by Prof. Yesim Parman from Turkey and Prof. Jin Nakahara from Japan.